Lawndale Tribune Inside This Issue Calendar...............................2 Classifieds............................3 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Finance..................................2 Food.......................................5 Legals................................ 6-7 Pets........................................8 Police Report.......................2 Politically Speaking............4 Seniors..................................6 Sports....................................4 Weekend Forecast Friday Mostly Sunny 69˚/50˚ Saturday Partly Cloudy 69˚/51˚ Sunday Sunny 73˚/50˚ The Weekly Newspaper of Lawndale Goodbye to a South Bay Icon Hollywood Park closes after 75 years. Much of the track's items, including artwork and memorabilia, tractors and restaurant equipment, will be auctioned on Jan. 24-25. Photo by Cheryl Ann Quigley. City Council Begged ‘To Just Get Along’; Valentine Chosen as New Mayor Pro Tem By Nancy Peters The Hawthorne City Council met on Tuesday for the first meeting of 2014 with a gallery of citizens waiting to hear the exchanges from the dais. With the last time this body was gathered resulting in contentious exchanges documented and observed by many, a number of citizens approached the podium during public comments to admonish the “disrespectful” tones used by certain seated Council members towards Mayor Chris Brown. Comments included that elected officials have an obligation to serve the people and not their individual interests, as well as the fact that they can be removed from office by the people. Other comments also pointed out that new businesses considering Hawthorne as a location will be reluctant to do so when it is possible to read of dissension among the elected officials. One citizen questioned if the wrong Council members have been elected to serve the people. Mayor Brown nominated Councilmember Olivia Valentine to be the Mayor Pro Tem and with a vote of 4-1, with Councilmember Nilo Michelin casting the sole dissenting vote, Valentine will serve for a two-year term. But even the term for a Mayor Pro Tem was questioned by Councilmember Alex Vargas, who argued that there is no precedent for the term of a Mayor Pro Tem despite the fact that the mayoral position has always been for two years and the Pro Tem position historically followed suit. The City Attorney will draft an ordinance for the next Council meeting to delineate the length of service for the position of Mayor Pro Tem for the future. It was pointed out that the mayoral position will be a four-year term beginning with the election in 2015, which could affect the Mayor Pro Tem position that is an internal election by the seated Council members. The consent calendar included the opening of sealed bids for the vendor choice to install a system on Crenshaw Boulevard that will allow the recognition of license plates, identifying any that may be wanted, thus serving as a tool for the police department in finding violators of laws. Only one bid was received and awarded to PTM General Engineering Services, Inc. of Riverside. The bid was accepted at the rate of $33,332, to be furnished with gas tax funds. The work will consist of conduit, poles, pull boxes and the camera equipment. No date for the commencement of the project was announced. Two ordinances were approved after the second reading. The first will regulate used car dealers and their location in specific zones in the city. The second ordinance confirms how cottage foods/made-at-home foods will be regulated within the municipal code. Purchases will be made after approval at the meeting of new video cameras and audio equipment for the City’s Cable Department. Approval was also obtained for bids to be sought in order to upgrade the central air conditioning system throughout City Hall with new compressors, and all attending equipment. Mayor Brown made appointments to the Planning Commission and each member received a unanimous vote from the Council. The three appointments, constituting a quorum, will allow the Planning Commission to convene on Wednesday, January 15, the first meeting of the Planning Commission since mid-November 2013. The three Planning Commissioners are Pat Carey, Rula Alshanableh, and Robert Smith. The other two appointments, to complete the five-member panel, will be made on January 28. The Hawthorne representatives to the various committees and boards of which municipalities are members in the South Bay and in Los Angeles County were also decided by Council on Tuesday. These appointments include Mayor Brown as the delegate to the LA County Sanitation Board, SCAG, and the West Basin Water Board; Valentine as the delegate to Centinela Youth Services, Independent City Risk Management Authority, and the South Bay Cities Council of Governments; Angie Reyes-English serving as delegate for the League of CA Cities and the South Bay Corridor Steering Committee; and Vargas as the City Selection Committee and Independent Cities Assn. delegate. The Hawthorne Chamber of Commerce will sponsor the State of the City Luncheon on March 28 at noon at the Hawthorne Memorial Center. Tickets can be purchased through the Chamber of Commerce. Ronald Garcia introduced himself as the new Southern California Edison representative for Hawthorne. Citizens are urged to call 800-611-1911 whenever there is a problem with the electric service, downed wires, or blackouts and to report claims and complaints. The New Star Family Justice Center at 14221 Hawthorne Boulevard will have an open house on January 25 at 1 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a tour of the new facility and introduction of the services the center will provide. Police Chief Robert Fager announced that the Hawthorne-originated program “Coffee with a Cop” is spreading across the country. Hawthorne Police representatives will travel to several cities in North Carolina to introduce the program and explain how it works to those local police departments. Claudio Taniguchi, the Emergency Preparedness Director, announced that the Map Your Neighborhood program did a presentation to the Holly Park Homeowners Association and urged other HOAs and organizations to schedule the presentations at their meetings. The Walking Program will have an event in the Holly Glen area on Saturday, January 25 at 10 a.m. The next meeting of the Hawthorne City Council will be held on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 at 6 p.m. • AND lAwNDAle News Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - January 16, 2014
Lawndale 01_16_14
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